How do you store your food?

In Oregon and Washington, I just hang food in bag. Sometimes my pack.

If possible I'll do a legitimate bear hang – 10 feet from ground, 10 feet from tree sideways.

But bears are fearful of humans, so a lot of times I just make sure it's a few feet above ground. I've had rodents get into my food a few times, that's the big risk. I see bears occasionally, but they quickly run away.

A few places, like the Olympic Peninsula beach, bear canisters are required, so I use that, but hate the extra two pounds.

I think Sierras bears are much more clever so you have to be much more careful.

When camping out near the Washington coast, I've had problems with raccoons. They're very clever and can find their way into almost anything. For this reason I'm worried that even a bear bag might be compromised. I'm considering going with a lighter bear canister like the BearVault BV450 Solo.

The bear canister depends on how much food you have. There are small ones that weigh only about 26 ounces or so, but your amount of food may require the big ones that weigh much more. If you don't know how much food you will have, it is hard to select the right one.

–B.G.–

Michael, if bears aren't you main concern but critters instead, then check into the Outsack. You can hang it like a bearbag , but small animals can't into them. They are a wire bag that kind of reminds me of chain mail. The lightest bags weigh as little as 2.5 oz

Really good question. For me, it all depends on "where".

In bear territory, you should either hang your food or use a bear-proof canister.

In rodent territory, you have a lot of options. In less high-traffic, developed areas, hanging your food in a relatively odour-proof bag should be adequate. Alternatively, sleeping with your food (relatively odour-proof bag) should also be ok. But getting it off the ground is usually key for rodents.

The exception to the above is in Grand Canyon, where the critters have learned to be AMAZINGLY clever about getting human food — even in less-traveled North Rim areas. GC ravens are so smart that they can unzip your tent or pack and look through your belongings for food!

At this point, we've tried:
– odour-proof bags (sometimes they work with rodents; sometimes not);
– metal mesh bags (ok for rodents — total failure against ravens);
– large popcorn/cookie tins (completely successful, heavier than bags but less heavy than a canister).

Christmas is the ideal time to get yourself a huge popcorn or cookie tin that you can use for this purpose (and never have to think about animals getting your food again).

Dagnabit! Edited for typo.

Valerie –
"… metal mesh bags (ok for rodents — total failure against ravens)"

Do they open the velcro or just perforate everything through the mesh?

I suspect that, over time, they would just make the hole bigger and eat everything.

You have to put the Opsack inside of a silnylon stuffsack before you put it into the Outsack (wow, that's a lot of sacks) Makes all the difference.

Amazing!

Got to give those guys credit …

We tend to do week-long trips, so we need a large capacity, but those who only go for a day or two could get a smaller/lighter version.

(Soup can added for proportion)

I live in Seattle and hike mostly here in the PNW. I use a Zpacks Blast bear bag system most of the time. There are more areas requiring bear cans in Olympic NP and North Cascades NP. For those areas I reluctantly take a Bear Vault 450.

I don't like to hang, lazy. So I carry an Ursack. It's the white thing in my avatar. Usually with the liner if bears are known to be about. 18oz. If you use a canister stove the liner makes an awesome windscreen. I have an Outsack also. That is great for submerging in the creeks. I'll take it on overnighters also.

Raccoons are relentless here. Way more problematic than bears. Too smart. Too much free time.

I'm usually hiking in black bear territory, so when it's required or when I'm above treeline I bring a BearVault. When I can get away with not bringing a canister, I store my food in a LiteTrail odor-resistant bag, and at night I put that inside my sleeping bag's stuff sack and hang it with a PCT hang.

The odor-resistant bag is fantastic. It keeps my food together in my pack, it keeps the rest of my gear from stinking like food, and it's odor-proof enough to put a stop to those little critters that are able to climb up and down ropes. I used to have problems with squirrels and chipmunks even when my food was hung up, but not anymore.

Around black bears – I sleep with it.

Around grizzlies – I sleep far from it.

For rodents, I bring it in my tent (not tarp) or hang it.

For all species, avoiding especially smelly foods helps. So does avoiding established campsites.

A few years ago, I did some beta testing of both cuben roll-top bags and the original Outsak, in an area alive with rodents of all shapes and sizes (racoons, skunks, squirrels, and foxes) and also some big birds that likely weren't carrion types (owls and the occasional hawk). There was never a breach of either the cuben bags or the Outsak, although they certainly tried hard. So I now only use an Outsak with a cuben drawstring liner, unless I am forced to employ a bear canister.

Also, after hiking extensively in the fairly treeless northern part of Yellowstone in 2013, and having the sun melt my cheese and chocolate, I made some shiny mylar bags last winter to fit between the Outsak and the cuben bag to try to deflect the sun's rays. I didn't get out much this summer, so I wasn't able to try this out and see if it actually works. Valerie wondered if the shiny look would attract critters. I don't know, but they look cool. The one on the left is without a mylar bag, whereas the one on the right has one. Shiny.

At this point, we've tried:
– odour-proof bags (sometimes they work with rodents; sometimes not);
– metal mesh bags (ok for rodents — total failure against ravens);
– large popcorn/cookie tins (completely successful, heavier than bags but less heavy than a canister).

Do you now whether an Ursack Minor works well for non-bears?

–MV

Gary, are those the Outsack Spectrum or the UL?

"Do you now whether an Ursack Minor works well for non-bears?"

Depends on the critters. This is what can happen in the Grand Canyon when the bag sits on the ground and tensions the fabric at the bottom. They just scrape their way in. So far, I have not had anything chew a hole in a bag that was hanging at least 3' off the ground.

YMMV

Regarding Valerie's and Robert's success with large cookie/popcorn tins:

Tis the Season!

Most offices will be getting humongous tins of popcorn, pretzels, etc, from their vendors in the next week. Hang a note on it, "Please leave in David's cubicle when empty – I'll reuse it."

Other times of the year, they can be had for $1 at Goodwill and Salvation Army.

They could potentially be multi-purposed to haul a lot of water away from the creek for a soapy sponge bath / shower.

As those who've spent a lot of time in GC know, the critters there have developed special skills (PhD level, maybe even post-doc!). I keep trying to find their little campus in one of the side canyons. ;^)

If the ravens don't find your stuff, just hanging it off the ground worked, but the ravens seem to have become much more prevalent (and aggressive) in the last few years (enrollment is up at those Critter Colleges, apparently).

David had a great idea for sourcing — my old office used to get a ton of those tins! OTOH, my skinny husband was very happy to empty our container, with only a little bit of help from me.

I usually sleep with it. If it's bear country, I put it in a waterproof sack and hang it in a tree. It's tough to find a good tree if you are high up, in which case I just sleep with it.

…

Just watched that video last weekend. He seemed a bit excited when he was telling the story. :-)

Those are the Outsak UL bags. The one on the left is the larger size, and I had David make me a custom size (the one on the right) that is half-way between the large and the small in height. The custom one is my favorite, volume-wise, for 3 nights out.

The weights of each Outsak UL, with cuben liner, mylar, 40' of Lawson's Ironwire cord, a couple of mini-'biners, and my long titanium spoon are as follows (with dimensions):

Large, 18" x 10" = 6.5 oz.
Medium, 16" x 10" = 6.0 oz. (my custom size)
Small. 14" x 10" = 5.4 oz.

Aside from bears and Valerie's post-doc ravens, I would bet on these bags thwarting any of the usual suspects out there. In Glacier and Yellowstone, I just toss the hang cord over the bear pole and tie it off. In Colorado, where I only have to worry about Greg, Mags, Skurka, Stuart, Brendan, the Randys, and Gordon trying to sneak my whisky, I just hang it from a tree branch maybe 5' up. It's cheap entertainment, watching a chipmunk clinging to the mesh trying in vain to chew a hole in it. In the unlikely event that some pest could breach the SS mesh, it would be hard for it to chew through the 1.0 oz./yard cuben bag. And I like the fact that the cuben bag, when rolled over at the top, is a waterproof food container when it rains.